Disclaimer: I make no claims any of the characters contained in the story below. No money or other recompense has been received for these writings; they are intended solely for the purposes of entertainment.

A Feeling of Family

knoteach

Chapter 1: A Family Secret

Ezra watched as his six friends as they sat around Chris' living room relaxing after a very long week. This last week had been hell, but now it was over and they had the weekend to relax. He was happily reminiscing when Buck spoke up.

"Hey, Chris, you see the sign out in front of the Harrison place?"

"Yeah, I've got until the fifteenth, but there's not way I can come up with the money that fast." Chris sighed. "And I don't stand a chance at the auction."

"What are you guys talkin' about?" JD piped up.

"The Harrison's own the ranch just to my west. It's got some of the best water sources and grazing in the area. I've been trying to raise the money to buy it, but I'm still about $500,000 short. It goes up for auction on the sixteenth if I can't, and there's no way I could get it at auction, there's a couple of the big development companies after the land to build condominiums or something," Chris explained. Everyone looked thoughtful. Chris was definitely not going to enjoy having construction going on practically in his back yard. He liked his solitude, and that many people moving in was going to wreck havoc with the peaceful area.

Ezra sat quietly for a few moments. He had been with the team for nearly two years now and they had grown into a close-knit family of brothers. He didn't know what he would do if that ever changed, but he could help, and he wasn't about to sit here and watch Chris lose out on this opportunity. He just didn't know what kind of impact this was going to have on their friendships. "Chris, I can get you the money to buy the land. You could pay me back when you can later."

Chris looked up at the Southern undercover agent in confusion. "Ezra, I need some where around $500,000, even if I mortgage this place to the hilt. You don't make any more than I do, where would you get the money?"

Ezra looked down at the beer bottle in his hand for a moment before looking up and answering. "My father left me a significant inheritance when he died, that I have barely touched over the years. I could go to the bank right now and get a cashier's check for double the amount you mentioned without any problem."

"If your father left you so well-healed, why's Maude always marrying for money then?" Josiah asked, his infatuation with the beautiful blond was well known. He could never figure out how the woman could live the way she did, but now it made even less sense. It never crossed his mind to doubt the Southerner's words.

Ezra snorted. "I said he left me an inheritance. Maude didn't get a cent from him aside from what she got as my trustee and guardian." When he six friends continued to look at him in various degrees of confusion, he explained further. "Maude is not my biological mother, she is my step-mother."

"What?" Nathan yelped. That would explain part of the interaction between the two, but he certainly wouldn't have guessed.

Ezra nodded, "My mother died in child birth, and my father married Maude two years later. He died when I was four. He did love her to a certain extent, I suppose, but he specified in his will that I was his sole heir, while she was appointed my trustee and guardian until I turned eighteen."

Ezra laughed softly, slightly bitterly. "You should have seen the look on her face when I walked out the door on my eighteenth birthday. She seems to think I owe her something."

"Well, Ez, 'least now we know where ya' got that fancy car of yours," Vin said when everyone fell silent. "Though, if ya' got that much money, I cain't see why ya' don't get yerself a real car, a jeep or a hummer or somethin'." Vin gave Ezra a grin so show him that he was just joking, and they were off and running again.